Tuesday, 20 September 2005

Simon Wiesenthal, who passed away at the age of 96, may not have been the easiest person to like, but without a doubt, he must be the easiest person to respect.

How could one not be in total awe of someone whose life after coming out of Mauthausan Concentration Camp weighing a paltry 100 lbs, was singly dedicated to one aim and one aim only – capturing Nazis?

This incredible individual felt the need to avenge the deaths of six million of our brothers, not by lowering himself to the unimaginable standards of the perpetrators, but by bringing them to justice – and thereby providing a testimony for time immemorial of what really happened to the Jews and others in the years between 1933 and 1945.

I think the term Nazi Hunter belittles what Simon Wiesenthal’s real role was. He was rather the ultimate “Pursuer of Justice” and the one person who can claim to have done more than anyone else to avenge the deaths of one third of our brethren.

He was responsible for the capture over a thousand Nazi’s and lived to the age of 96, only to die peacefully in his sleep.

May the souls of the people he fought for, embrace his very special soul and accompany it into the Garden of Eden.